Role of Organochlorine Pesticides in Chronic Kidney Diseases of Unknown Etiology

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) contributes to a significant burden on the healthcare system and economy worldwide. In the last two decades, a new form of CKD: chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) in which the disease is not attributed to known causes has emerged as a major health issue in different geographical areas over the world mainly from farming community and has become a global concern today. Despite intense and numerous research works dedicated to CKDu, very little is known with certainty regarding its etiology and the pathophysiology behind its development. Recent evidences are emerging in favor of possible role of agrochemicals and pesticides in the pathogenesis of CKDu. Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) due to their longer half-life and lipophilic nature persist long in the environment and are known to be biomagnified through food chain. Some study reports by the authors and a few others constitute the important body of evidences depicting the association between chronic exposures to OCPs and occurrence of CKDu through environmental contamination in farming as well as non-farming communities in different geographical areas around the globe

Synthesis, Spectroscopic, and Antimicrobial Studies of Binuclear Metallocene (M = Ti, Zr, or Hf) Derivatives of Bis(mercaptoazoles)

The reactions of (η5 − C5H5)2MCl2 (M = Ti, Zr, or Hf) with mercaptoazoles (LH2), namely, bis(mercaptotriazoles), bis(mercap- tooxadiazoles), and bis(mercaptothiadiazoles) in 2 : 1 molar ratio, respectively, have been studied in dry tetrahydrofuran in the presence of n-butylamine and the binuclear complexes of the type [{(η − C5H5)2 M}2(L)] (M = Ti/Zr/Hf) are obtained. Tentative structural conclusions are drawn for the reaction products based upon elemental analysis, electrical conductance, magnetic moment, and spectral data (UV-Vis, IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR). FAB-mass spectra of few complexes of each series were also carried out to confirm the binuclear structures. Studies were conducted to assess the growth-inhibiting potential of the complexes synthesized, and the ligands against various fungal and bacterial strains

A protective role for nitric oxide and salicylic acid for arsenite phytotoxicity in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The authors are thankful to Director, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI), Lucknow for the facilities and for the financial support from the network projects (CSIR-INDEPTH), New Delhi, India. APS is thankful to CSIR New Delhi, India respectively, for the award of Research Associateship. RDT is gratefully thankful to Award of Emeritus Scientist (CSIR). GD is thankful to SERB-DST, New Delhi for award of NPDF. AK is thankful to UGC for award of DSKPDF. Award of Fast Track Scientist to SM from DST is gratefully acknowledged. We are also thankful to Mr. Dilip Chakraborty for technical assistance.Peer reviewedPostprin

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Tree diversity and community characteristics in Talle Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, India

This study was carried out in a temperate forest for enumeration of floristic diversity and community characteristics analysis of the Talle Wildlife Sanctuary. A random sampling approach was adopted. Altogether, 63 species were recorded from the sampled area (0.2 ha). Family dominance results showed that Lauraceae was the most dominant followed by Fagaceae. Seventy percent of species showed low frequency distribution and species having higher frequency classes were almost absent or represented by only a few species. Dominance distribution of species resulted in a log normal distribution pattern which further signifies that the forest community was heterogeneous in nature. Species Prediction and Diversity Estimation analysis categorized 80% of the species as a rare species group and 20% as abundant species group. Estimation of coefficient of variation showed that rare species have equal detection possibilities in the sampled area. Distribution of basal cover in different girth classes indicates a reverse trend to that of stand density. The results of this study show that the forest community composition is highly clustered and loosely colonized in nature

Isolation and Characterization of Heavy Metal-Tolerant Bacterial Isolates from Industrial Effluents in Uttar Pradesh, India

Industrial activities over the past century have significantly increased human exposure to pollutants such as heavy metals. Industrial emissions of heavy metals, which are carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic, contaminate natural water supplies and the agricultural environment. Due to the high concentration of heavy metals in industrial effluents, the bacteria present there naturally develop resistance to heavy metals. The aim of this study is to isolate and characterize bacteria resistant to heavy metal, lead (Pb), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) from sites contaminated by industrial effluents in Uttar Pradesh, India. A total of 58 bacterial isolates were isolated from 9 samples according to their various morphological parameters and 32 isolates were found positive for all heavy metals, which revealed that samples contained metal-resistant bacterial diversity. Two isolates were identified up to species level based on their physiological, biochemical and molecular characterization as Comamonas testosteroni (S4C1) and Bacillus cereus (S5C3). Both isolates are highly resistant to lead (Pb), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) and they show different MICs against the above heavy metals at different levels.  A growth experiment showed that the presence of heavy metals concentration had no discernible impact on the growth rate among the isolates. Gel analysis showed interesting patterns of protein expression were observed in the presence of various heavy metals. MALDI-TOF analysis found that specific proteins (S layer protein, F0F1ATP synthase subunit b, Flagellin, 50S ribosomal protein L4, Molecular chaperone) were overexpressed in the presence of heavy metals. As a result, identifying the heavy metal resistance bacteria and their proteins study could be useful as a preliminary investigation for the development of prospective bioremediation agents of potentially hazardous waste treatment technology

Modelling of total soil carbon using readily available soil variables in temperate forest of Eastern Himalaya, Northeast India

The study was carried out in temperate forest of Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India, during 2015–2016. Stratified random sampling was adopted for soil sample collection from three depths on a monthly basis in each of the permanent plots. Collected samples were analysed using standard methodologies. The XLSTAT (ver.2019) was used for the partial least square regression and modelling. The soil was acidic in nature having moderate soil moisture with very low temperature. Soil texture varies from sandy loam to sandy clay loam in nature. Altogether, 16 readily available soil variables were used for identifying significant variables to be used for modelling the total soil carbon (TSC). Based on the results, five most contributing independent soil variables having high variable importance in prediction were used for modelling the TSC. The average annual TSC was recorded 5.33% for upper, 5.01% for middle, and 4.20% for lower soil surface, respectively. The developed depth-wise equations predict very close TSC with very low root-mean-square error (rmse) to observed values. Hence, the findings of the present study will be very much useful under limited data conditions to predict the TSC and also in inaccessible areas of temperate forest ecosystem